Lucien leaned back. “You’re going with me?”
Gray chuckled. “Someone has to protect Kirkford.”
They exchanged a nod, then entered the drive as Stenfax’s footmen began their way up the steps. Both the servants looked surprised to see their master and gave bows.
“My lord?” the head footman said. “I-I didn’t realize—”
Stenfax held up a hand to stay him. “I know, thank you. Why don’t you and Cummings take the cart around back? I’ll have you let in there to do the moving.”
The men nodded and went back to their cart to move it. Stenfax drew a long breath, put his coldest expression on and knocked. A butler answered the door in a moment.
“May I help you?” he asked, his tone and demeanor harried.
“I’m here to retrieve the Duchess of Kirkford’s things,” he said, pushing past the man. “Have my servants let in and show them to her chamber.”
The servant gave a faint smile but then pushed it aside. “I see, sir.” He leaned in. “I must offer up some resistance, you know.”
Stenfax stiffened. “Does that mean the duke is in residence?” he whispered.
“In the west parlor, drinking and tearing down anything Her Grace decorated with. Also stoking the fire to burn her clothes.”
Stenfax clenched his fists, and Gray set a hand on his arm gently. “Make your arguments,” Gray suggested. “Loudly, and we will push past and go confront the duke. While we do so, allow the men in. They’re large. They overpowered you.”
The butler nodded, then stepped back and shouted, “What are you doing here? I don’t care who you are, you can’t just barge in here demanding to take my master’s things!”
Stenfax smiled and folded a coin into his fingers. “Thank you.”
“You’re certainly welcome, my lord,” the man said as he motioned for them to go to the parlor. He trailed behind as they did so and as Stenfax pushed the door open, he said, “I’m sorry, Your Grace, they couldn’t be stopped.”
As they stepped into the room, all three of them stopped and the butler jerked a hand to his mouth with a gasp. The new Duke of Kirkford was not thrashing about the room as had been described, exacting revenge on Elise’s belongings.
Instead he was lying on the floor before the fireplace, a knife sticking out of his chest.
Gray rushed forward, dropping to his knees before the man. “He’s still alive,” he cried out. “Call for the guard and a doctor!”
The butler ran to do so, leaving Stenfax and Gray to the duke. Stenfax moved forward, staring at the face of his enemy. The new duke had as cruel a face as the last one, and he couldn’t feel sorry that he’d been attacked.
Gray looked up at him. “It’s bad,” he murmured.
Kirkford moaned. “I can’t breathe,” he panted.
“The blood is filling his lungs,” Stenfax said as he observed the position of the knife. “I don’t think there’s much that can be done.”
Kirkford’s eyes went wide with fear. Slowly Stenfax sank to his haunches and looked him in the eye. “You tried to hurt Elise, so I feel no pity for you. But I will try to bring you justice, not that you deserve it. Who did this to you?”
Kirkford was gasping for air now, and there was a wheezing, sucking sound to it. “My—my cousin, Roger,” he managed weakly. “We were born on the same day, he challenged me as heir to the dukedom. He never got over that I won.”
Gray and Stenfax exchanged a look. “You told Elise there was a book,” Gray said, placing a hand on Stenfax’s chest to keep him from talking. He understood why, Gray was more likely to massage the information out of Kirkford than he was. “Where is it?”
Kirkford coughed and blood trickled from his mouth and nose. But he still smiled, a disgusting, red-toothed grin. “You’re afraid of the book? You should be. I know it has secrets. I…found it. Would…have…destroyed…when…I…understood.” His words came slower now, more labored as he drowned in his blood. “Roger…took…it…”
He sucked in one last breath and then it all hissed out. He stopped moving, and he was gone.
“Goddamn it!” Stenfax roared, getting to his feet and scrubbing a hand through his hair. “So now the book isn’t hidden, it’s in the wild.”
Gray slid a hand over the duke’s eyes, closing them gently before he got to his feet. “What did he mean by ‘when I understood’?”
“I don’t know,” Stenfax said. “Perhaps he didn’t have time to read it before Roger came and killed him, taking it with him?”
